“First Amendment Auditors” Harass Owners of Local Business and are Arrested

Downtown Eugene’s “Crumb Together” targeted by anti-mask pair

Editor’s Note: The article was updated to reflect that both individuals have been released.

Ricki Scott Collin and Amy Verlee Hall were arrested on Wednesday, Nov. 3 following an altercation involving the owner of Crumb Together, a local cookie business in downtown Eugene.

The business had previously been the target of attacks that began after a picture of their sign was posted to social media. In August, posts went up on a public Facebook group and on Twitter calling the establishment divisive.

On Twitter, the business has reported numerous incidents of threats, including having a gun drawn on them. 

Another video shows the owner’s husband in distress during a separate incident that occurred. In the video, he is seen threatening a man in a truck in the street who then pulled a gun. The events leading up this altercation are unknown and the video was uploaded on Nov. 4 by Anthony Allen Maples, a.k.a. Ant baller. 

The pair, Collin and Hall, targeted the business after hearing rumors that the owner had been chasing people who refused to abide by the mask mandate away from the store with a bat. As a result of being spurred on by their online community, the couple decided to go tell the business owners that they are ones who are breaking the law.

The Assault

Armed with their camera phones, they entered the store and were immediately asked to wear a mask or to leave.

The pair refused and then proceeded to berate the owner with their nonsensical interpretation of Oregon Revised Statutes and the Constitution. Using information they gathered from ORS 659A.400, the pair asked the owner if the business was open to the public. 

The owner said “yes” and that’s when the pair claimed that the action was discrimination and, as a public accommodation, they had the right to remain in the privately owned store without masks.

According to an article published on JacksonLewis, a group of 950 plus lawyers who specialize in employment law:

“Accommodations can take many forms — but there are limits. A business need not accommodate someone if doing so would impede the business’s ability to safely provide its goods and services. Under current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance, allowing unmasked members of the public into business establishments creates a health and safety risk. Moreover, COVID-19 is spread by persons who may be asymptomatic, and who possibly have no idea whether they carry the virus. As a result, in light of the CDC guidance, customers can be required to wear masks or other suitable face coverings (e.g., bandana, face shield, and the like) subject to applicable state and local ordinances mandating masks.”

Richard D. Landau, H. Bernard Tisdale and Joshua R. Adams

The altercation between the business owner and the couple escalated quickly. The owner advanced towards Hall with her arms outstretched in an effort to get them to leave. Hall—in an equally threatening tone—told the owner not to touch them before roughly shoving the owner back.

Following the shove, the owner produced a bat from behind the counter and began to explain the rights that a business owner has to defend their property. The owner had already told the couple that they had been trespassed and needed to leave.

Collins remained in the corner of the shop recording the encounter per what he says is legal via the First Amendment. 

Officers with the Eugene Police Department were already nearby when the incident took place. As soon as it was over, the anti-mask pair went and reported it to the police. 

The altercation between them and the owner lasted a total of one-minute-and-fifty-seconds. They would spend almost an hour talking with the officers prior to being arrested.

During that time, the officers reviewed the livestream on their phones and interviewed the business owner around the corner. Both individuals have been charged with assault in the third degree, a Class C felony.   

Collin has since been released and has been reconnecting with his online community, he enjoyed a breakfast burrito at Along Came Trudy in Springfield before taking part in a “Breathe Free” event there.

The restaurant has been a place of contentious arguments over mask and vaccine mandates since the beginning of COVID-19 and has also been issued with citations for violating mask mandates. After his breakfast Collin, joined a fellow supporter of “first amendment audits,” FMV, an acronym of FoulMouth Veteran for an online interview.

Collin didn’t provide much information about his case in the video, however, he shared a great deal of his own personal history. 

He is ex-military and served in the US Army. He said that after he returned home he trained to become a cop. He is currently unemployed and has spent the last few years researching the law. Now he is using his knowledge to defend his freedom and using his YouTube channel to show others how to do the same.

The Travelers

According to court records obtained by Raindrop Works for Double Sided Media, each of the pair have past and current charges.

Collin trespassed a Safeway grocery store in Sherwood, Washington on six days between June 5, 2021 and June 15, 2021 — and did so armed most of the time.

Most recently, on Oct. 11, he was caught speeding in Hood River County and did not have visible license plates. Later that same month, on Oct. 20, he was cited, again, for failing to have license plates.

Hall’s file is considerably larger—over 80 pages—and includes charges for burglary, theft, identity theft, assault, possession of illegal substances, stolen cars, and firearms between 1999 and 2015. Her most recent charge prior to the Crumb Together assault was for driving without a valid license and without insurance in Dec. 2020.

Recently, the pair have been traveling all over Oregon with a mission of telling the cops that they, too, are breaking the law.

Under a pseudonym, Polly Audis, Collin has been uploading his videos to YouTube to delight, thrill, and persuade his audiences into thinking that he knows the law better than the law enforcement officers they have been harassing.

In each incident, the law enforcement officers do their best to calmly, diligently, and rationally deal with the couple. Providing excellent examples of white privilege, Collin and Hay both have criminal pasts. However, in each video instead of arresting them and charging them with interfering with an officer, the law enforcement officers let them go.

“A person commits the crime of interfering with a peace officer or parole and probation officer if the person, knowing that another person is a peace officer or a parole and probation officer as defined in ORS 181A.355 (Definitions for ORS 181A.355 to 181A.670):
Intentionally acts in a manner that prevents, or attempts to prevent, a peace officer or parole and probation officer from performing the lawful duties of the officer with regards to another person; or

(b)Refuses to obey a lawful order by the peace officer or parole and probation officer.

(2)Interfering with a peace officer or parole and probation officer is a Class A misdemeanor.

(3)This section does not apply in situations in which the person is engaging in:

(a)Activity that would constitute resisting arrest under ORS 162.315 (Resisting arrest); or

(b)Passive resistance. [1997 c.719 §1; 1999 c.1040 §7; 2005 c.668 §1]

Note: 162.247 (Interfering with a peace officer or parole and probation officer) was enacted into law by the Legislative Assembly but was not added to or made a part of ORS chapter 162 or any series therein by legislative action. See Preface to Oregon Revised Statutes for further explanation.”

ORS 162.247 – Interfering with a peace officer or parole and probation officer

This is a recent movement catching sway as right-wing conservatives try to find new ways to “fight for their freedom.” Those performing the “audits” are questioning whether law enforcement officers will adhere to the law, upholding their oath as keepers of the constitution, or if they will be oath breakers. 

In one video, Collin tries to place an officer under citizen’s arrest. This occurred during his second interaction with the officer. During the first encounter, Collin said he was “informing” the officer of the unlawful actions of the department and threatened to arrest him if he didn’t act.

The duo returned the next day, Hall aimed the camera, and Collin told the law enforcement officer that he was placing him under citizen’s arrest. That’s when the officer simply walked away and sent his boss out to deal with them.

These “First Amendment audits” are very similar to the “poll watchers” who were filming the 2020 election. In a similar fashion, auditors have been described as threatening, harassing, and intimidating those they are filming. Similar to Oath Keepers, these groups of “Oath Enforcers” are often ex-military and have ties to the Proud Boys and other alt-right conservative groups. 

Hall’s social media history confirms this with her Facebook account linking the National Action Task Force. A decentralized private membership group which formed as a result of “patriot groups splintering.” Their mission is “twofold:”

“To bring knowledge, education and empowerment to all of our [Oath Keepers] in public service as well as the people they are sworn to protect for the purpose of  laying down a solid defense of our God given rights against all enemies, foreign and domestic. 

To uncover, investigate and prosecute unconstitutional behavior, violations of oaths and trespass upon the rights of the people whenever and wherever we can.”

National Action Task Force

Her Instagram account, where she lists herself as a news personality, is full of anti-vax, anti-mask memes and rhetoric. Also included in her feed are photos from Portland protests where she wrote that she “might get murdered by anquifa tonight.”

Hall’s TikTok videos—which she has posted to Instagram—carry on that same theme, however, also includes a video of an outdoor Proud Boy gathering where they chant “Fuck Antifa.”   

On YouTube, she has uploaded videos from a June 27 Black Lives Matter protest in Portland. 

Collin’s YouTube channel currently has 34 videos. The first video of their travels was posted three weeks ago on Oct 15. Following the arrest after Wednesday’s event, a few videos—notably the ones from Eugene—were missing. However, as of Nov. 6, the videos are back up.

Traveling from Portland with Collin’s father and two dogs, the pair arrived to show support for local resident Mindy Stone who was issued a citation for trespassing at Market of Choice. On Nov. 3, they joined a group of approximately twenty people outside of the Eugene Municipal Courthouse demanding “Justice for Mindy.”

According to Collin, Stone was issued a trespassing citation for shopping without a mask. Stone, herself, claims that she was mistakenly assumed to be with a group of anti-mask protesters at the store that day. She said that she had already finished her shopping and approached the group in the parking lot to ask them questions when the police arrived.

As part of their traveling “First Amendment audits,” the duo recorded their participation in the protest at the courthouse. Stone also posted a separate video to her own Facebook page directly identifying all three individuals.

Collin claims that Stone’s case is likely to be dismissed and she requested that her case be heard in a constitutional court for violations of her rights. 

It was after causing a scene at the courthouse, that Collin and Hall moved on to another location to demonstrate their control over the law: Crumb Together. 

The anti-mask duo claimed that they were arrested unlawfully even as EPD placed them in cuffs while online followers watched the event unfold in real time. While some claim they are members of “ANTIFA,” their online footprint and community shows otherwise.

As of Nov. 9, both Collin and Hall have been released.

DSM attempted to reach out to the owner of Crumb Together the day after the incident and they declined to comment.